I'm all for new ideas, but to shut down discussion of how they could be run better seems counter-productive. The reason that I noted that Fallout was the only viable option is because 6v6 (from my limited 3.5 month experience) generally is unbalanced and relative to a 7v7, is not that fun. It allows either for 3o-3d, or 4o-2d; with hofs, it just gets dumb. Elegiac is also in my opinion not a map for small numbers because it is so incredibly easy to chase. There is a reason Scarabrae was not played in competitive Tribes; there is a reason Mirage is not played in pickup Legions. I realize the numbers thing isn't something to really be concerned about since if there are extra people, one can always start a different pickup. Then again, you also have to take into consideration that you have 19 votes right now, so obviously some of them cannot play, and/or will not get to play the map that they voted for. Then you also have to take into consideration that this only solves map 1, and there is no blueprint to solving the next map; it appears to me like putting a band-aid on the problem. And then you have to have people vote every week, which if analogous real-world democracy is any indication, is a hard feat to pull off (much less in a video game). And then you have the problems that arise mid-game, when one team is getting absolutely hammered because of garbage initial positions that allow no flexibility in-game, and infighting results.
I love when people play new maps. If anything, it evens the stage for newer players, since the older players have played Frostbyte, Nivosus, Moonshine, and Zenith for god knows how many hours. Same thing in T1- I can actually run routes blind on some maps. It's one more stumbling block for newer players to get to the level of older players.
If the problems is captains and maps, I think a couple fixes could be set in place.
1. People should listen and understand how experienced captains make decisions on players and positions; even if they don't agree, they can understand.
2. Captains should be sensitive to the mood of the pug, not adopt a "Well, I'm captain, *dance* you all, we're playing gorge" attitude. This is not necessarily an explicit vote (these tend to take forever). Same with people who just join the pug after it's been going on for a while.
3. Potential/new captains should read Blitz's and Jack's posts in Darklord's captaining thread, and shouldn't be afraid to ask for advice.
4. Captains should be relatively equivalent skill-level or picking wise, and if they aren't, safeguards ought to be in place in giving them first pick and side, etc. Depending on the two captains, assess whether this is one of the friendly pickups or down-to-the-bone competitive ones; if it's the former, attempt to match the picking style of the other captain.
5. Also, get people to join servers instantly and establish the captains of the next game immediately after the game finishes.
Also, 5v5s, no sents, no snipes, should be more common.
voilà. ggs.